Physicist Alexander Alexandrovich Friedman made a scientific discovery in his time, even ahead of Einstein, and was the first to prove that the Universe is expanding. However, during his lifetime, his work did not receive due recognition, although it later turned out that his theory was correct. Friedman was a man with an unusual fate. He was born in 1888 into a family of a composer and piano teacher, but he himself showed no interest in music, preferring scientific literature. After successfully graduating from the physics and mathematics faculty of St. Petersburg University, he taught for a long time at various institutes.

With the onset of World War I, Friedman voluntarily went to the front, served in the Air Force, and flew bombers. Even during this time, he continued to engage in science, developing tables for precision bombing. For his merits, he was awarded the George Cross, but after being wounded, he left the service and returned to the university. It was then that he became interested in Einstein's general theory of relativity. Finding some gaps in it, Friedman solved the complex equation and made the main discovery of his life: the Universe is a living organism that continues to expand. Before this, Einstein believed that the Universe was in a state of rest.

Friedman published his work in leading scientific journals, but Einstein initially criticized it. In 1929, astronomer Edwin Hubble experimentally confirmed Friedman's theory by discovering that galaxies and quasars are indeed moving away from each other, indicating the expansion of the Universe. After this, Einstein reviewed Friedman's work and acknowledged that he was absolutely right. Unfortunately, Friedman himself did not learn about this, as he passed away in 1925 from typhoid fever.